The point of being saturated by hybrid/eco-speak happened pretty early at this years NY Auto Show. But it only took looking back to the first reveal of the show to have a reminder that the spirit of cars can be simplified down to going fast and looking good. There are also still those occasions at auto shows where dreaming is ok.

There’s an old adage in motorsports that race cars should be designed for go and not show. Contrary to this thinking Mercedes-Benz unveiled a new beautifully designed customer race car called the SLS AMG GT3.

Based on the 2011 SLS AMG road car, the GT3 version is a no compromise, track bred beast. The car needed to fit within the rules of the GT3 class and Mercedes looked for ways to transform the road car into a competitive racer. New body panels are made of carbon fiber. There is a huge rear wing and lower diffuser to improve handling at high speed. And production car interior was gutted and fitted with a roll cage and safety seating system for the driver. Powered by a V8 engine, Mercedes says the car can go from 0-60 in about the time it took to read this sentence.

Owning the car opens opportunities to participate in 24-hour endurance races on famed tracks like Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium and the Nürburgring in Germany. As for the price to buy one, that’s going to take some dreaming too.